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Al-Qaeda split could spell turmoil
[MAGHAREBIA] With thousands of Maghreb youths now fighting in Syria, news of jarring internal divisions among hard boy groups has security experts back in North Africa worried about the fallout.

The squabbling has been front and centre within al-Qaeda. In April, al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced his terror group was joining forces with Syrian jihadists Jabhat al-Nusra. But Jabhat al-Nusra chief Abu Mohammed al-Joulani denied the terror merger, saying he was not consulted.

Then last Saturday (June 15th), al-Qaeda in Iraq issued a statement defying orders from al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri
... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is...
 to break up the supposed union and allow the two al-Qaeda branches to operate independently.

Recently, signs of internal conflict also surfaced within the branch of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), when the emir of the branch, Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud, dismissed one his field commanders in the Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
 of Africa, Mokhtar Belmokhtar.

Belmokhtar then announced a separate group called the "Signatories in Blood" brigade, and pledged his group's allegiance directly to al-Qaeda in Wazoo under al-Zawahiri's leadership.

And with al-Qaeda's branches disputes over leadership, concerns are growing that North African jihadists operating in the Levant could return home, bringing with them foreign agendas and skills honed on the front lines of the Syrian conflict.

The report published by Algeria's Echorouk daily on June 16th, citing Hezbollah's Al Manar channel, is perhaps the examples of the strong presence of Maghreb fighters within Jabhat al-Nusra; something that has further boosted the influence of the group within Syria.

The Algerian newspaper cited Al Manar channel as saying that 6,113 imported muscle of various foreign nationalities were killed in Syria in recent months.

The channel added based on what it said were documented reports by European and Syrian think tanks that at least 53 Algerians, 50 Tunisians and seven Mauritanians were among the dead, together with scores of other nationalities from European, Asian, and African countries.

There is a strong possibility that they were fighting alongside Jabhat al-Nusra, analyst Abdul Hamid al-Ansari told Magharebia. He explained that the influx of Maghreb fighters may have boosted the group's confidence at a critical time.

"Jabhat al-Nusra might have already felt its major role in Syria, and therefore, it started to behave based on this role out of a desire to be on the top of jihad and monopolise command at the expense of other groups, exactly like what we saw in al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) when terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar felt his own influence and used it to defect from AQIM," the analyst said.

For his part, Dr Ahmeda Ould Bafie, a professor at Libyan universities and a researcher in Maghreb economics, said that if the cracks in jihadist groups in Syria were true, this would be an indication of al-Qaeda disputes despite the fact al-Zawahiri urges them to unify their ranks.

"Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups are harmonious in generalities, but some particularities and events fuel disputes which appear as a result of a desire to monopolise command and compete for spoils," he said.

In response to a question by Magharebia about the role of Maghreb young people in tipping the scales in favour of Jabhat al-Nusra, Ould Nafie said it was true, specifically noting Libyan support for Syrian rebels.

Libya has also become a transit country where fighters gather on their way to Turkey and then move on to Syria. Tunisian young people in particular have used Libya as a rallying point.

The Tunisian government has recently moved to prevent many young Tunisians from leaving the country via the Libyan border because they were planning to go to Syria and join the armed opposition there, according to Prime Minister Ali Larayedh.

Larayedh has said that the "government will follow up on the file of Tunisians who are fighting in Syria", adding that terrorism was "the biggest threat facing Tunisian security in the post-revolution era".

In his turn, Tunisian Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou recently said that "five networks specialised in getting Tunisian fighters to Syria were dismantled. About 1,000 young men who were on their way to Syria to fight against the regular army forces there were prevented from travelling."

"It's difficult to specify the number of Tunisians who went to Syria because many of them travel secretly or through ways that don't attract attention," Ben Jeddou said in an interview published by Tunisia's al-Maghreb newspaper last month.

Bassel Torjeman, an analyst and expert on Islamist groups in the Maghreb told Magharebia that the influx of Tunisian forces of Evil on the Syrian battlefield fighting for al-Qaeda was "a surprise given the big number of those fighters as compared to countries that have historically been the main supply of fighters for al-Qaeda".

"The Tunisian fighters are today fighting along al-Qaeda, firstly because of their historical relations with this group, and secondly because Jabhat al-Nusra is still not coherently structured. The group faces many disputes and conflicts over influence and spoil with other groups who came to Syria and lack harmony, organization and structure," Torjeman continued.

"The conflict between Jabhat al-Nusra and al-Qaeda in Iraq is a conflict for influence, gains and spoil which each side tries to control, especially oilfields in north-eastern Syria," he said.

Even as the two terror groups compete for influence, they continue to commit atrocities. The recent killing of a Syrian child by al-Qaeda gunnies for "kufr" sparked widespread shock and anger.

"The crimes of al-Qaeda or Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria are further to the criminal and terrorist approach that has distinguished this group both in ideology and practice since its foundation," Torjeman said.

"What is taking place in Syria today and crimes committed by those gangs are very serious indicators of future," he added. "The unprecedented level of criminality which the group now engages in in terms of slaughter, murder and torture will make such acts regular practices when those fighters return to their countries, and this will spread such practices in different world countries."
Posted by: Fred 2013-06-21
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=370647